


Hey Now, Hey Now (A Musical Coda)

by yourcrookedheart



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, Episode: s05e12 The Balls, F/F, Gratuitous Karaoke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:08:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24255646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourcrookedheart/pseuds/yourcrookedheart
Summary: Marina and Zelda share a moment after the gang breaks into the Nave Hotel, and Marina discovers there are worse things in life than being serenaded by a sexy Librarian.
Relationships: Marina Andrieski/Anna (Past), Marina Andrieski/Zelda Schiff
Comments: 8
Kudos: 7





	Hey Now, Hey Now (A Musical Coda)

**Author's Note:**

> This is the second fic I've written based on 5x12. I just really, really like musicals, okay.

Of all the people Marina has met, no one has been able to undo her the way Anna has.

Love at first sight is sentimental bullshit, used to peddle shitty heart-shaped candy to idiots, but Marina still remembers the first time she met Anna. A cold, dreary night. The grimy bustle of the Black Market, Marina looking for a music box that would grant her another few months’ rent, Anna selling overpriced voodoo dolls to gullible hedges.

(To this day she insists the dolls were good value for money. They weren’t, but try explaining the concept of hypocrisy to Anna. You’d have more luck convincing the candy-buying idiots that Valentine’s Day is a capitalist scheme.)

It wasn’t love at first sight, but it was _something_ kickstarting Marina’s cynical heart, making her think of words she’d always loathed, like _girlfriend_ or _affection_ or _home_. Being Anna’s girlfriend turned her into a soulless Stepford Wife long before she went to see a trance healer. The only difference between then and now is that she didn’t used to mind that, as long as she could be Anna’s.

Now, she minds.

Hindsight is a smug bitch, and utterly useless, because now Marina is stuck with a house in the suburbs she hates and no girlfriend. That’s what she’s thinking about when they’ve succeeded in getting the World Seed from the Nave Hotel—the empty house she’s returning to after this is all over, because the people she’s helping now stole her goddamn apartment.

“Celebratory drink?” Zelda coos, before all but pushing a glass into Marina’s face.

Marina sniffs. Whiskey neat. “I’ll take a smoke, if you’ve got one.”

Zelda pulls a pipe out of the pocket of her palazzo pants—Marina wonders what else she’s hiding in all that fabric—and lights it with a flick of her fingers. Marina’s never tried a pipe before, but the smoke fills her lungs nicely. It alleviates the headache that’s been building in her temples.

“Pardon the intrusion, but you don’t seem to be very happy with our success.”

And the headache is back. Nice.

“It’s been a long day, listening to you people slaughter the Ramones,” Marina bites back.

The heist ended up taking an entire day, and the night sky is visible behind the kitchen window, moonlight spilling over the generous surface of the kitchen island. Marina’s current house has a kitchen island too, but she misses the sleek lines of this one. Not that she ever used the kitchen, back when she still lived here, but not everything that’s pretty needs to be useful.

“Is this about your girlfriend?” Zelda asks, voice full of careful curiosity.

“Don’t you have dusty books to get back to?”

Zelda takes a thoughtful drag of the pipe and exhales a billowy cloud of gray smoke. “Not at the moment, no. I burned them down.” She says it as if she’s talking about her past weekend. _Well, you see, I wanted to go to yoga, but it was raining…_

Fucking Librarians. Though setting fire to your problems does seem more productive than arguing with them until they walk out, door slamming, so score one for the Librarian.

“She didn’t sound like a good partner,” Zelda says. “Your—Anna?”

Marina takes the pipe back from Zelda, waving it around at the empty apartment. “Anna, yeah.” Goddamn Anna. “You know what they say. Love is a scam, existence is a prison.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“Don’t you?”

Zelda hums, as if she’s considering Marina’s question. At first Marina thinks her humming is just as melodious as her voice is, but then she realizes what’s happening.

“Oh no—No. Nope.” She raises her finger in warning. “Do _not_ start singing. We were done with the singing.”

But her final protests are drowned out in the sound of a softly strumming guitar.

“ _There is freedom within…_ ”

“Jesus christ,” Marina groans.

“ _There is freedom without. Try to catch the deluge in a paper cup._ ”

“What does that even mean?”

“ _There’s a battle ahead…_ ”

“Okay, that’s it, I’m out.”

Marina makes it as far as the end of the kitchen before Zelda jumps out in front of her. She clasps Marina’s hand in hers, bringing both to her chest. “ _Hey now, hey now_ ,” she croons, soft and coaxing. “ _Don’t dream it’s over._ ”

“Oh it is _very_ over,” Marina argues, but she can already feel the magic of the spell taking hold, weakening her resolve. The words are in her throat, and Zelda’s eyes are big and pleading behind her glasses. This is the last time, Marina swears. The absolute last time she lets herself get roped into these people’s plans.

“ _Now I’m towing my car, there’s a hole in the roof_.” Marina’s voice is less melodic than Zelda’s, which seems made for singing. By contrast, Marina’s tone is flatter, more reluctant, as if even her vocal chords reject expressing themselves through the medium of music. At least the magic of the spell means she can carry a tune, even if it sounds kind of rudimentary.

Until Zelda rejoins her for the chorus. Their voices harmonize well enough, Marina has discovered as much during their earlier impromptu musical moments. And now, with Zelda leading her towards the couch, Marina can hear the way Zelda’s voice enhances hers.

It’s probably the spell. Magic messing with her head, that’s all it is. But if Marina were pressed, she’d have to admit that it almost feels—nice.

“ _Don't dream it's over_ ,” Zelda repeats, and it’s only a song, but it sounds like she means it, with her earnest eyes and her red lips curling around the words. She releases Marina’s hands, only to cup her cheek.

There are, Marina thinks, worse things in life than being serenaded by a sexy Librarian.

Zelda smiles as the music fades out, and Marina’s “ _hey now, hey now_ ” blends with Zelda’s quietly dreamy “ _don’t let them win,_ ” until there’s nothing but silence, and Zelda’s ring a cold press against Marina’s skin.

She can tell Zelda is about to pull back, which won’t do, because Marina hasn’t just suffered through yet another musical number only to go home empty-handed. Instead, she pulls Zelda in by her waist, and savors the gasp of surprise as Marina kisses her. Maybe sexy Librarian isn’t high on Marina’s list of sexual fantasies, but only a blind woman would refuse one when the opportunity presents itself. Let it never be said Marina isn’t an opportunistic witch to her core.

Zelda’s surprise doesn’t last long. She turns out to be a surprisingly good kisser for someone who spends most of her day around musty old books, and it feels like the sweetest kind of revenge, to smudge Zelda’s lipstick in this apartment that used to be Marina’s, where her girlfriend broke up with her not even four hours ago. Revenge and pleasure. _Don’t let them win_ , indeed.

“The others will be back soon,” Zelda says when Marina’s hand creeps a little too close to the clasps on her shirt.

That _had_ been what Marina was aiming for. She’d been looking forward to the look on Julia and Kady’s faces, at the very least. But, sure, alright, plans can be adapted.

“I’ve got a nice house and a portal not far from here,” Marina says, skating her hands down Zelda’s hips. Too much damn fabric. She’s going to enjoy unwrapping all of it.

“We should—”

“ _Get to know the feeling of liberation and release_?” Marina sings the line, just for the hell of it, and feels triumphant at the smile that appears on Zelda’s face.

“Well, I suppose it can’t hurt,” Zelda says, as laughter fills the hallway outside of the apartment.

“Come on,” Marina says, suddenly desperate to leave before she’s forced to socialize and pretend like she wouldn’t be stealing the World Seed if some preppy bitch hadn’t tricked her into signing a Word as Bond. “You can buy me dinner on the way.”

Zelda purses her lips as if Marina’s a Library visitor who’s raised her voice. It’s kind of adorable, actually, but maybe Marina will wait until they’re both wearing less clothes to mention it. Spice things up a little, get Zelda to use her strict Librarian voice in bed. It’s starting to look like Marina will come out of this with a sexy Librarian fantasy after all, which isn’t the worst thing, not if she’s got the chance to put that particular kink to the test.

Marina might not have gotten what she wanted out of this heist. Most likely, she’ll never see Anna again—and good riddance. But she won’t be going home alone, and that feels like winning too.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [Tumblr](https://queennsansa.tumblr.com/).


End file.
